Editing Canadian dollar (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Canadian dollar}}

===Colonial currencies===
The 1850s in Canada were a decade of debate over whether to adopt a [[£sd]]-based monetary system or a decimal monetary system based on the US dollar. The British North American provinces, for reasons of practicality in relation to the increasing trade with the neighbouring United States, had a desire to assimilate their currencies with the American unit, but the imperial authorities in London still preferred sterling as the sole currency throughout the [[British Empire]]. The British North American provinces nonetheless gradually adopted currencies tied to the American dollar.

{|class="wikitable"
|+Currencies used in Canada and its predecessors
|-
!Currency!!Dates in use!!Value in ([[£sd|pre-decimal]]) [[pound sterling|sterling]]<!-- These values are in shillings and pence, not "pounds", have substituted the general term "sterling" -->!!Value in Canadian dollars
|-
|[[Canadian pound]]|| style="text-align:center;"|1841–1858|| style="text-align:center;"|16''s''&nbsp;5.3''d''|| style="text-align:center;"|$4
|-
|Canadian dollar|| style="text-align:center;"|1858–present|| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|4''s''&nbsp;1.3''d''|| rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|$1
|-
|[[New Brunswick dollar]]|| style="text-align:center;"|1860–1867
|-
|[[British Columbia dollar]]|| style="text-align:center;"|1865–1871
|-
|[[Prince Edward Island dollar]]|| style="text-align:center;"|1871–1873
|-
|[[Nova Scotian dollar]]|| style="text-align:center;"|1860–1871|| style="text-align:center;"|4''s''|| style="text-align:center;"|$0.973
|-
|rowspan="2"|[[Newfoundland dollar]]|| style="text-align:center;"|1865–1895|| style="text-align:center;"|4''s''&nbsp;2''d''|| style="text-align:center;"|$1.014
|- style="text-align:center;"
||1895–1949|| style="text-align:center;"|4''s''&nbsp;1.3''d''|| style="text-align:center;"|$1
|}

====Province of Canada====
[[File:CAN-S1666-Colonial Bank of Canada, Toronto-1 Dollar (1859).jpg|thumb|A [[Province of Canada]] one-dollar note issued by the Colonial Bank of Canada, 1859]]
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2024}}

In 1841, the [[Province of Canada]] adopted a new system based on the [[Halifax rating]]. The new [[Canadian pound]] was equal to four US dollars (92.88 [[grain (mass)|grains]] gold), making £1&nbsp;[[pound sterling|sterling]] equal to £1.4''s''.4''d''. Canadian. Thus, the new Canadian pound was worth 16 shillings and 5.3 pence sterling.

In 1851, the [[Parliament of the Province of Canada]] passed an act for the purposes of introducing a sterling-based unit,{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} with decimal fractional coinage. The idea was that the decimal coins would correspond to exact amounts in relation to the U.S. dollar fractional coinage.

In response to British concerns, in 1853, an act of the Parliament of the Province of Canada introduced the [[gold standard]] into the colony,{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} based on both the British [[gold sovereign]] and the [[Eagle (United States coin)|American gold eagle coins]]. This gold standard was introduced with the gold sovereign being [[legal tender]] at £1 = US${{frac|4.86|2|3}}. No coinage was provided for under the 1853 act. Sterling coinage was made legal tender and all other silver coins were demonetized. The British government in principle allowed for a decimal coinage but nevertheless held out the hope that a sterling unit would be chosen under the name of "royal".{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} However, in 1857, the decision was made to introduce a decimal coinage into the Province of Canada in conjunction with the U.S. dollar unit. Hence, when the new decimal coins were introduced in 1858, the colony's currency became aligned with the U.S. currency,{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} although the British gold sovereign continued to remain legal tender at the rate of £1 = Can${{frac|4.86|2|3}} right up until the 1990s. In 1859, Canadian colonial postage stamps were issued with decimal denominations for the first time. In 1861, Canadian postage stamps were issued with the denominations shown in dollars and cents.

====Maritime colonies====
In 1860, the colonies of [[New Brunswick]] and [[Nova Scotia]] followed the Province of Canada in adopting a decimal system based on the U.S. dollar unit.

In 1871, [[Prince Edward Island]] went decimal within the U.S. dollar unit and introduced coins in the denomination of 1 cent. However, the currency of Prince Edward Island was absorbed into the Canadian system shortly afterwards, when Prince Edward Island joined the Dominion of Canada in 1873.

====Newfoundland====
[[History of Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]] went decimal in 1865, but unlike the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, it decided to adopt a unit based on the [[Spanish dollar]] rather than on the U.S. dollar, and there was a slight difference between these two units. The U.S. dollar was created in 1792 on the basis of the average weight of a selection of worn Spanish dollars. As such, the Spanish dollar was worth slightly more than the U.S. dollar, and likewise, the [[Newfoundland dollar]], until 1895, was worth slightly more than the Canadian dollar.

====British Columbia====
The [[Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866)|Colony of British Columbia]] adopted the [[British Columbia dollar]] as its currency in 1865, at par with the Canadian dollar. When British Columbia joined Canada as its sixth province in 1871, the Canadian dollar replaced the British Columbia dollar.

===Post-Confederation history===
In 1867, the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia [[Canadian Confederation|united into a federation named Canada]]. As a result, their respective currencies were merged into a singular Canadian dollar. The Canadian Parliament passed the ''Uniform Currency Act'' in April 1871,<ref name="UCA">{{cite web |url=http://canadianeconomy.gc.ca/english/economy/1871Uniform_Currency_Act.html |title=1871&nbsp;– Uniform Currency Act |publisher=Canadian Economy Online, [[Government of Canada]] |access-date=February 18, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080221100047/http://canadianeconomy.gc.ca/english/economy/1871Uniform_Currency_Act.html |archive-date=February 21, 2008}}</ref> tying up loose ends as to the currencies of the various provinces and replacing them with a common Canadian dollar.

The gold standard was temporarily abandoned during [[World War I]] and definitively abolished on April 10, 1933. At the outbreak of [[World War II]], the [[exchange rate]] to the U.S. dollar was [[Fixed exchange rate system|fixed]] at Can$1.10 = US$1.00. This was changed to parity in 1946. In 1949, sterling was devalued and Canada followed, returning to a peg of Can$1.10 = US$1.00. However, Canada allowed its dollar to float in 1950, whereupon the currency rose to a slight premium over the U.S. dollar for the next decade. But the Canadian dollar fell sharply after 1960 before it was again pegged in 1962 at Can$1.00 = US$0.925. This was sometimes pejoratively referred to as the "Diefenbuck" or the "Diefendollar", after the then Prime Minister, [[Diefenbaker|John Diefenbaker]]. This peg lasted until 1970, with the currency's value being floated since then.